Professor's Lawsuit Not Unique

Suing Colleges For Tenure Becoming A National Trend

WILLIAMSBURG — The trial this week of a law professor's charge that he was denied tenure at the College of William and Mary represents a national trend of increased litigation in such cases.

The trend has been fueled by the creation of discrimination laws that make it possible for professors to pursue their cases in courts and by what is perceived as a "lawsuit-happy society," say lawyers and higher education analysts.

"Twenty and 25 years ago, it was fairly unusual for a tenure case to reach a trial," said Jonathan Knight, associate secretary of the American Association of University Professors. "Now it's not at all unusual. It even happens with some regularity."

In fact, the case of John B. Corr, former W&M law professor, which opens Monday in Richmond, is one of five in the state currently scheduled to be decided by a jury, said Bert Rohrer, the attorney general's press secretary. The trial, expected to last between five and eight days, has been closely followed by the W&M community.

Tenure for professors is worth fighting for because it essentially guarantees their continued employment unless a college can prove it doesn't have the money to pay their salaries or that the professors are guilty of illegal or immoral acts or aren't teaching properly. Faculty members who do not receive tenure during their sixth year are asked to leave after seven years.

From 1980 to 1986, while Corr taught at W&M, he was enormously popular with the students he taught, but he clearly irritated some of his colleagues.

Court documents show:

* Corr angered a professor whose promotion was delayed by one year because Corr revealed that the professor was ineligible for a promotion at the time it was first considered.

* For unspecified reasons, William B. Spong Jr., former dean of W&M's Marshall-Wythe School of Law and now president of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, once said he wouldn't meet with Corr unless someone else was present, and the two rarely spoke in the two years before Spong resigned his post in 1985.

* At a meeting in December 1984, when Corr and other professors expressed reservations about hiring a one-time visiting professor onto the staff, Corr referred to a two-page memo in which he said the search to fill the position should be widened and reported rumors that the professor taught while "hung over" and had engaged in "inappropriate sexual activities with students."

It is Corr's position that what he said and wrote about that professor led to the refusal to grant him tenure, a violation of his First Amendment rights, he claims in a lawsuit filed last year against the college.

Retired Judge William E. Spain and a jury will begin hearing evidence Monday in Circuit Court to determine whether Corr's rights were violated.

The college contends that Corr was not granted tenure because his scholarly writings were not good enough, and college officials have said in depositions that he had a problem with "governance."

Corr is seeking $300,000, plus reinstatement to the law school. He had asked for $550,000, but two counts - defamation and breach of contract - were dismissed from the lawsuit in November by Judge Randall G. Johnson, and the damages being sought were reduced to reflect that.

Corr, on advice from his attorney, Raymond D. Battocchi, refused to comment on his reason for wanting to return to the law school, where he claims professor Glenn E. Coven Jr. threatened to falsify his tenure evaluation in an "unfavorable way" and where Dean Timothy J. Sullivan said in depositions that he would have considered resigning if Corr were granted tenure when he applied in 1985.

Battocchi also declined to comment, saying he doesn't "want to try the case in the newspapers." W&M's attorney, Joan W. Murphy, an assistant attorney general, could not be reached.

The court file on the case includes thousands of pages of depositions, affidavits and other documents. Still, some copies of depositions given by Corr and Sullivan have not been made public because they relate to Corr's tenure file, which is confidential. The Virginia chapter of the American Association of University Professors gave Corr $1,200 last year toward legal expenses, a token amount but a show of support.

Johnson, who chaired the association's committee on academic freedom and tenure when the assocation decided to support Corr, wouldn't comment, except to say, "Obviously, we believe in his case."

Corr also received support from his students: Three-hundred fifty of them signed a petition in favor of him getting tenure. He also won the William F. Swindler Award, a teaching award given by the students.